IS WOMAN SUFFRAGE 
RIGHT? 

The Question A nswerecL 



BY ISAAC LOCKHART PEEBLES 

OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONFERENCE 










IS WOMAN SUFFRAGE 
RIGHT ? 


The Question Answered 


B„ 

ISAAC LOCKHART PEEBLES 

of the 

MISSISSIPPI CONFERENCE 


1917 : 

Dement Printing Company 
Meridian, Miss. 




3 ^ 


Copyright, 1917 

BY 

Isaac Lockhart Peebles 


/ 

APR -6 1917 

© Cl. A 4 5785 4 

*k-e> | , 



PREFACE 


Woman Suffrage has become quite an engaging 
subject, but we are convinced that it is being dis¬ 
cussed on the wrong bases, and therefore we have 
brought forth this production for the revelation 
of that fact, and too, with the hope of setting 
aright what is destined to be a great evil if not 
corrected. This is a restless, hurrying age, and 
hence quick choice of bases and hasty conclusions 
and rushing actions obtain; but despite it all we 
should hesitate sufficiently in order to weigh well 
the question of Woman Suffrage, for it involves 
all interests of our race. 

We hope and pray that this work may prove 
to be a great help to, if not a perfect settlement of, 
this whole matter. 

Isaac Lockhart Peebles. 

Meridian, Miss., March, 1917. 
































































































































































. 









































CONTENTS 


I 

Origin of Woman Suffrage 

II 

Bases Adopted for Woman’s Suffrage 

III 

The Proper Bases for Discussing Woman 
Suffrage 

IV 

Unanswerable Objections to Woman Suffrage 



































































































































































































IS WOMAN SUFFRAGE RIGHT? THE 
QUESTION ANSWERED 


I 

Origin of Woman Suffrage 

The origin of the present movement for 
Woman Suffrage does not date back into the re¬ 
mote past, but near the middle of the nineteenth 
century. Mrs. John Stuart Mill wrote an article 
in the Westminster Review in 1851, criticising the 
Reform Act, or Bill passed by the English Parlia¬ 
ment in 1882, which excluded women from voting, 
although they had the required property qualifi¬ 
cation necessary to suffrage. Justitia wrote a 
pamphlet on ‘The Right of Women to the Political 
Franchise” in 1855. From that kind of a begin¬ 
ning, the agitation of Woman Suffrage has con¬ 
tinued in England. 

In 1820, Francis Wright, a Scottish reformer, 
came to America, and in 1828 emphasized woman's 
rights, aided by Ernestine L. Rose, a brilliant and 
beautiful Polish woman, who was quite enthusias¬ 
tic in that cause. Others enlisted, and hence the 
agitation culminated in a Woman's Rights Con¬ 
vention at Seneca Falls, New York, on the 19th 
and 20th of July, 1848 in response to a call which 
was published in the Seneca County Courier, July 
14th of the same year. In that convention, the 
religious, social and civil condition and rights of 



8 


Is Woman Suffrage Right? 


women were discussed and zeal for Woman’s 
Rights cause intensified. On the agitation has 
continued until the present, unabated. 

II 

The Bases Adopted for Woman Suffrage 

1. The first to which we invite attention is 
“Taxation Without Representation.” In adopting 
this basis, women overlooked the fact that their 
representation is in men, as it has always been 
when normal, and therefore, if there is a lacking 
in the same, the remedy is not to be sought in 
Woman Suffrage, but in the suffrage of men. All 
of the great reforms of recent years—especially 
that of prohibition—have not been accomplished 
by Woman Suffrage as such, but by the suffrage 
of men, who in their suffrage, represented the 
women. Let no one forget that there are men who 
pay taxes that are not allowed to vote, and there¬ 
fore the plea that “taxation means a right to 
vote” does not hold good. It is declared that in 
some states women pay more taxes than men, but 
those who thus declare do not disclose the fact 
that men are paying their own taxes in their 
wives’ names, and therefore the remedy in such 
cases is not to be sought by women in Woman 
Suffrage, but in persuading their representatives 
to do business in a more manly way. If the hus¬ 
band is dishonest, let the good wife wield her 
mighty influence for his conversion to honesty, 
and not to seek a position that will favor greater 


The Question Answered 


9 


dishonesty on her part, and also the unbecoming* 
thing of bossing and driving her husband. 

2. The second basis adopted for Woman Suf¬ 
frage is “Equality of Women With Men.” In 
some respects men and women may be equal, but 
they are not in the aggregate, for the reason that 
men are males and women are females, and too, 
that men cannot be women and women cannot be 
men any more than a husband can become equal 
to his wife in carrying, bearing and nourishing 
helpless infants. Many a loving, devoted husband 
would gladly suffer equally with his precious wife 
the gestation, parturition and care for their sweet 
babies, but he cannot because he is a man—he is 
not a woman. On the other hand, there are self- 
sacrificing wives who would cheerfully relieve 
their husbands of those struggles and hardships 
of his life that require masculine equipments to 
meet, but they cannot because they are women. 
They are not and cannot be men. 

Again, a man may be untrue to his wife and deal 
unlawfully with other women, but he cannot force 
on his wife illegal children for whom she has to 
care; but his wife may be untrue to him and ex¬ 
ercise unlawfully with other men and bring forth 
children that are not his for him to support, under 
the claim that they are his, and he cannot dis¬ 
prove it, although he may suspect that they are 
not his children. Even when husband and wife 
are both true, they cannot be equal despite the 
most intense desires and the most persistent 
righteous efforts of each to that end, for while the 


10 


Is Woman Suffrage Right? 


husband is attending 1 his farm, merchandise, prac¬ 
ticing medicine or law, teaching school, voting, or 
preaching, his modest, decent wife cannot be seen 
in public, or she may be in bed with a darling, law¬ 
ful newcomer to remain awhile, and therefore can¬ 
not equal her husband in business activities—can¬ 
not even go to the polls with her husband to vote, 
however anxious she may be to do so, although as 
healthy as he. Nature just simply and justly will 
not allow her to be equal to her husband. She 
may be more intelligent, better educated, better 
morally, have more property, and yet nature will 
not allow her to vote, arrest a negro if she is 
sheriff, hold court if she is judge, nor attend to 
state business, if governor. Other bases we could 
show that are false, but we deem it unnecessary. 

Ill 

The Proper Bases for Discussing of Woman 
Suffrage 

The basis for a wise and righteous discussion of 
Woman Suffrage is not that of “taxation without 
representation,” “equal rights of women with 
those of men,” “woman’s equality with man,” 
“what women can do, have done, are doing,” nor 
“what they prefer to do,” or “what men may think 
and prefer their doing.” No, not at all; but it is 
that of her relation to man, and man’s relation 
to her. In order, therefore, to a correct discus¬ 
sion of Woman Suffrage we should settle the ques¬ 
tion of woman’s relationship to man and man’s re- 


The Question Answered 


11 


lationship to woman, and therefore let us perform 
that task, remembering that God’s word is the 
only authority for its settlement. 

Matrimony illustrates this point most clearly 
for when a couple marries the woman’s name is 
lost in that of her husband, and therefore she is 
no longer known by her former name, which in 
reality was her father’s name. Her father was 
her representative prior to her marriage and since 
marriage her husband is her representative. This 
fact finds proof in the following Scriptures: “If a 
woman also vow a vow unto the Lord, and bind her¬ 
self by a bond, being in her father’s house in her 
youth; And her father hear her vow, and her bond 
wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her 
father shall hold his peace at her: then all her 
vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she 
hath bound her soul shall stand. But if her father 
disallow her in the day that he heareth; not any 
of her vows, or of her bonds wherewith she hath 
bound her soul, shall stand. And if she had at all 
an husband, when she vowed, or uttered aught 
out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul; 
And her husband heard it, and held his peace at 
her in the day that he heard it; then her vows 
shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound 
her soul shall stand. But if her husband disal¬ 
low her on the day that he heard it; then he shall 
make her vow which she vowed, and that which 
she uttered with her lips, wherewith she bound her 
soul, of none effect.” (Numbers 30:3-8.) If the 
father or husband consents to her vows, then he Is 


12 


Is Woman Suffrage Right? 


responsible for vows as the father for his daugh¬ 
ter’s debts and the husband for his wife’s debts 
now. 

God’s word informs us that woman is subject 
to man and that man is woman’s ruler and head. 
That woman’s relation to man is subjection is un¬ 
mistakable from God’s own language to her after 
her most wilful sin against God. “Unto the woman 
he said: I will greatly multiply thy sorrow, and 
thy conception: in sorrow thou shalt bring forth 
children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, 
and he shall rule over thee.” (Genesis 3:16.) 
Paul wrote: “Wives submit yourselves unto your 
own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.” (Col. 
3:19.) The word “submit” is “sub” under and 
“mittere” to send, literally meaning to place or 
send under. God does not say one thing about 
husbands submitting to their wives, or to place 
themselves, or send themselves under their wives, 
but plainly declares that his relation to his wife is 
that of headship. That fact is plainly declared 
when Paul wrote: “And the head of the woman is 
the man,” (I. Cor. 11:3) ; and again: “For the 
husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is 
the head of the church” (Eph. 5:23). He wrote 
also that “the head of every man is Christ” (I. 
Cor. 11:3). Now, the whole matter is before us 
and it is this: that Christ is the head of every 
man and that the man is the head of the woman, 
and too, that women are subject to Christ and to 
men, and men to Christ. With very little effort 
pne can see that Christ could not be the head of 


The Question Answered 


13 


men, if they were heads of him, or even his equals, 
and therefore cannot any one with a very small 
degree of knowledge and understanding see that 
man cannot be woman's head if she is his head, 
or even his equal ? God’s order would be wrecked, 
for his order is, Christ the head of man and man 
the head of woman. Any one should see, that un¬ 
less specially limited, woman suffrage means a 
right to be elected, and a right to be elected means 
to be the head. In plainer words, if a woman is 
Selected governor of a state, she becomes the head 
of all the men in that commonwealth, and if she 
is elected president of the United States, she be¬ 
comes the head of all the men who are citizens 
of the United States and even head of her hus¬ 
band, and thereby changes God’s order completely 
which has fixed man for the headship of the 
woman, and an order too that God alone can 
change rightly, and therefore since He has not 
changed it by placing woman in the headship, it. 
should not be changed by men nor women. Let it 
not be changed for God’s sake. i 

IV 

Unanswerable Objections to Woman Suffrage 

1. The first objection to Woman Suffrage is, 
that it will rob women of that preferable lady-like 
Jmodesty and delicacy that places them in a higher 
esteem with men than that that men have for 
men. Nothing does a man appreciate more in 
Xvomanhood than a normal, delicate modesty pecu- 


14 


Is Woman Suffrage Right? 


liar to women, whether he himself knows much 
jor little, or is a Christian or a sinner; but when 
|that has been displaced by the masculinities of 
pien, then women will become repulsive and dis¬ 
gusting. When she assumes an air of don’t care 
;and to dare, she forfeits that high regard true 
jmen have for normal womanhood. 

2. The second objection to Woman Suffrage 
is, that it hurts women and drives them to des¬ 
perate acts. In England enthusiasts for Woman 
[Suffrage destroyed property irrespective of its 
value, and neither did they care for the discomfort 
and suffering it entailed. In this great country 
bf ours, woman suffragists not only have said and 
done hard things, but they have done the very un¬ 
godly thing of mutilating the Bible, and fixed up 
a Bible of their own, and titled it, “The Woman’s 
Bible,” (I have a copy of it on my table before 
me), but how uncharitable it is in them to leave 
men with no Bible at all—it is “The Woman’s 
[Bible!” Men have not been so unkind to women, 
for the men have always regarded the Bible as 
the Book of God for men and women, but look 
how women suffragists have done: patched up a 
kind of Bible that suits them and left men with¬ 
out a Bible. Just think how they recently lost 
their lady-like modesty and dared to browbeat the 
intelligent, courteous, honorable and good Presi¬ 
dent, Woodrow Wilson. To accomplish the end 
Sought, they endured cold and rain, and even the 
smiles and courtesies of our great President. 
What a hard heart that refuses to respond to 


The Question Answered 


15 


manly smiles and to the blandest courtesies! They 
neglect husbands, children, parents, home and 
squander money. 

3. The third objection against Woman Suf¬ 
frage is, it will deprive women of that supreme 
protection by men that they have without suf¬ 
frage. Men regard men grossly cowardly and 
Unmanly when they wilfully fail to respond to 
woman's needs and protection, for true manhood 
esteems it honorable and chivalrous to do so. A 
manly man will not hesitate to shed his blood for 
a true woman. He will sacrifice for women in 
preference to men. Men have enacted laws par¬ 
tial to women; such as their husbands supporting 
them, and should they leave them without sup¬ 
port and the mothers of their wives furnish them, 
they become liable to same for it. If a husband 
leaves his wife and dependent children he is re¬ 
quired to support them, but if his wife leaves him 
land helpless children, she is not responsible for any 
part of their support. Should a wife be divorced 
from her husband because he is an adulterer and 
he is an active business man with no children, one- 
third of his estate may be granted her whether he 
likes it or not, as alimony, but if a husband divor¬ 
ces his wife because she is an adulteress, she does 
not become liable to him for anything, although 
she may be ever so rich and he miserably poor. 
Women are not required and neither can they be 
compelled to work roads, to be grand jurors, to 
arrest criminals, to go to war, and yet men may 
be compelled to all of these and others not men- 


16 


Is Woman Suffrage Right? 


tioned. Many other advantages that women have 
over men by men that are not mentioned, but those 
mentioned are sufficient for one to see that after 
all that has been said and written to the contrary, 
woman’s heritage is a goodly one, and therefore, 
can women afford to ruin it all? Surely not, and 
especially in the Solid South ? Wives, mothers and 
daughters, please to allow me to persuade you to 
let well enough alone and do not lose what you 
already have that is dear. 

4. The fourth objection to Woman Suffrage 
is, that it means destruction of homes. The word 
home in the real sense that is now a synonym for 
heaven, will become a synonym for a veritable 
earthly hell, or no place at all. The wife, if found 
at home at all, will likely have some testing strug¬ 
gle she had, some insult offered her, some achieve¬ 
ment she made, or some defeat she met, to narrate 
or inaugurate a sharp, exciting debate with her 
husband on some political issue, the progress or 
result of an election, etc., thereby affording him 
no mental rest nor spiritual comfort, nor taking 
any herself. Her excitement is great and intense. 
Her husband may not find her at home at all, be¬ 
cause in their race for governor she defeated him, 
and hence may be out looking after the state farm 
for criminals, or some other interest of the State; 
or she may have defeated him for mayor of their 
city, and hence she is holding a very important 
city council, consisting perhaps wholly of men, 
and will not likely reach home till midnight, if 
then; or she may have defeated her husband for 


The Question Answered 


17 


sheriff, and is out spurring a horse, hurrying blood¬ 
hounds and brandishing a deadly weapon with 
murder rankling in her blood in pursuit of an es¬ 
caping criminal; or she may be a judge and is off 
holding courts and will not return for several 
weeks; or she may be a turnkey and it is very 
necessary for her to remain in jail for the safe¬ 
keeping of some desperate white men and negroes 
who are not allowed bond, or have been sentenced 
to the gallows, or lifetime imprisonment, or both; 
or she may have been sent to jail, or lifetime im¬ 
prisonment, or sentenced to be hung by the neck 
till dead, because she shot to death an opponent 
of Woman Suffrage in a debate over the same; or 
she may be in a very close race for re-election, and 
since some white and colored voters cannot be 
seen only at night, and therefore she must see as 
many as possible, even if it requires a late night 
hour, for her ambition for re-election impels her 
to a desperate effort to accomplish it, home or no 
home, husband or no husband, children or no child¬ 
ren, for to her it is preferable. If woman suf¬ 
frage obtains and the women live it as it now 
means, they will be in competitorship with men of 
all grades and classes, and of course they will have 
very little time if any at all for a home, and if at 
home and the husband wishes to hold family 
prayer, she may inform him that she is as much 
the head of the family as he, and therefore if it is 
held at all she will hold it; or she may not believe 
in it at all, and hence assert her equal headship 
to see that it is not held; or her husband may not 


18 


Is Woman Suffrage Right? 


believe in it and she does, and therefore feeling 
herself equal in every particular with him, she 
dares to hold it anyhow, even against his protests, 
and therefore, since there is no agreement, he as¬ 
serts his part of the headship and a conflict fol¬ 
lows, and therefore the point of difference will be 
settled in the favor of the better man in the strug¬ 
gle. It may cost the life of one or both. Woman 
suffrage makes a monstrosity with two heads, and 
as a rule monstrosities do not live long, and hence 
the home ceases. 

5. The fifth objection to Woman Suffrage is, 
it disregards God’s order and ignores nature. 
Any one can see at a glance that the wife of our 
President is not equal to him in the presidency of 
this great country and connot be, for she is not 
President although she may be as competent as 
he, and why is she not the President? Because 
the powers that elect presidents did not elect her 
and they do not want her to assume that she is and 
even try to rule her husband. This government 
cannot and will not have two persons as rulers, 
for the reason that they may differ and tie up 
everything or ruin everything, and so we have one 
head. That is God’s order, but Woman Suffrage 
wants two heads, and when we say two, we refer 
to the home to prove it. God’s order is one hus¬ 
band and one head, as we have already noticed, 
or, in other words, God has placed one ruler in the 
home for order’s sake and especially for his glory, 
and that ruler is the husband, but Woman Suf¬ 
frage wants his wife to be as much a ruler as he. 


The Question Answered 


19 


if not the chief ruler, and therefore cannot any 
one see and know that they will differ, and hence 
if one has as much right to rule as the other, the 
home will be ruined? The husband says, “Wife, 
please to take care of our babies to-day, for I shall 
have to look after some interests and will have to 
be gone all day.” But she, assuming that she is as 
much a ruler as he, if not the chief ruler, declares 
that he must stay at home himself for she 
must go and look after woman suffrage, busi¬ 
ness or no business, children or no children; 
or he may be solicited to run for an office 
and woman suffragists may solicit his wife to 
run, too, and of course she being very bright 
and ambitious yields to their solicitations and 
so does her husband, and he so informs her, but 
to his surprise she informs him that she has 
been solicited also to run for the same office and 
that she has decided to make the run, and that he 
must stay at home and cook, nurse the baby and 
keep it and its clothes clean, and if the baby cries, 
stop it if he can, and if he cannot just let it cry, 
for it will not kill it; but the husband informs 
her that the office needs a man to fill it and he 
feels that his chances are good for an election, 
etc., but she informs him that she has as much 
right to be elected as he, and therefore he need 
not say anything more about it, for she has fully 
decided to run, and now what? If they stop to 
quarrel and fight to decide real headship their 
home is spoiled, and if they both enter the race 
their home is hurt, and if she is elected the duties 


20 


Is Woman Suffrage Right? 


of the office may require all of her time, and hence 
her home is neglected and God's order disregarded 
and she assumes headship. Let it be remembered 
that God made man the head of the woman, not 
only in the home, but in the church and the State, 
and that His order should not be disregarded; and 
to disregard, or try to change it, is an insult to 
Him. Woman Suffrage ignores nature that says 
to women, “Your very nature is against Woman's 
Suffrage as it is now advocated for headship, or 
equality with man, but it favors men for leader¬ 
ship and headship.” They were made for either, 
but women were not; for one elected president of 
our great Nation, or governor of our great State, 
might be confined or have an infant too young yet 
right on inauguration day, and therefore the news 
flashes all over the world that our president or 
governor is very healthy, but nature has rule now 
and says, she cannot and she shall not be there. 
God made her so she cannot be there at that period. 
Her husband, father and brothers express great 
mortification and her husband says: “Wife, had I 
been elected, nature would have favored my being 
there, but you see now how it is with us.” If she 
has any true convictions left, she will likely ask 
the pardon of her husband, father and brothers, 
confessing at the same time that when soliciting 
votes of all kinds of voters, good, bad, white and 
black, that she did not feel right, neither did she 
feel comfortable through the whole campaign—she 
felt out of place; besides confesses that she was 
so impelled on by woman suffrage enthusiasm, that 


The Question Answered 


21 


she grew unreasonable and nothing but a demon¬ 
stration of the kind she is now having would have 
ever enabled her to see such a difference between 
men and women, and too, that they cannot be 
equal and cannot do equally, and now, husband, 
father and brothers, if God and you all will for¬ 
give me, from now on I shall let you men who 
were made for leadership and headship have them 
and I shall help you all to be good and efficient 
ones. Husband, if you will forgive me, from now 
forth, I shall remain in our home and care for, 
instruct and train our sweet children the best I 
can; seeing that they attend Sunday School and 
church regularly as they are able, and help you all 
I can to be a good husband, father, church member 
and citizen, and should our country need you in 
any capacity, I shall do my very best to help you 
to meet fully every requirement. You can be the 
sheriff, governor, president, or fill any office for 
which you may be wanted. You have borne so 
well with my immodesties and discourtesies, my 
harsh speech and rough conduct. My heart has 
been growing so hard that I cared less and less for 
God and men only as I could have my own way. I 
could hardly see any good in men or women only 
as they suited me on Woman Suffrage. I even 
had a growing contempt for them when they did 
not do just exactly to suit me. I even advocated 
boycotting those I could not convince and those 
who opposed Woman Suffrage. For all of this I 
heartily repent, praying to our Holy Father to 
forgive me, for he has been so good to us women. 


22 


Is Woman Suffrage Right? 


After all, you men have been good to us and al¬ 
lowed us to say, misrepresent and do many things 
we should have been ashamed of, but were so 
blinded and deafened by Woman Suffrage that we 
could not see or hear. I do not know what we 
women meant anyhow. We spent the hard-earned 
money you men made by travelling up and down 
the railroads, and that was not all; we talked un¬ 
charitably about you and abused you and created 
dissatisfaction among all the women we could. 
We made light of what God’s word says about 
women being in subjection to men and men 
being their head. We even called Paul an “old 
bachelor” through disrespect and went so far 
as that of mutilating the Bible and fixing up 
one that suits us. Some of us went far enough 
to say that God inspired our women to do as 
they have done. Just think how we have talked 
and done. It is so strange that we would 
assert, declare, talk and do as we have done. 
We have frowned, curled our lips, turned up our 
noses, practiced discourtesies, indulged hatred, 
until we are growing flinty. I feel hard and I 
know that I look hard. Husband, will God and 
you men ever forgive us? If He and you will, I 
shall remain where God has placed me and by His 
grace do all that is possible for His glory. I can 
see now that God did not want women as heads in 
prophesies, nor in the college of apostles, nor 
among the seventy he sent out by twos, nor the 
missionaries he sent abroad in New Testament 
days, and now shall we women ruin it all ? If we 


The Question Answered 


23 


had spent the money, time and energy that we 
have spent on Woman Suffrage for the needs of 
the poor, the relief of worn-out mothers, in mak¬ 
ing homes more comfortable, better and happier, 
in the salvation of lost souls, and in sending the 
Gospel to the heathens, just think of the good we 
might have done and how happy and contented we 
would have been! God help us to stay in our 
proper places and do His will until we are in 
heaven, not entertaining for one moment the least 
dissatisfaction with God’s order or plans. Let 
God’s order remain unchanged. Woman’s Suf¬ 
frage is wrong. It is not right. 

























































































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